Wednesday, July 5, 2017

5 July 1953 - The Rarest Of Hat-Tricks

On 5 July 1953, László Kubala made his first appearance for Spain, despite having already played for both Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

A support striker, Kubala was born in Hungary and started his career there with Ganz TE (1944) and Ferencváros (1945-46). In 1946, he moved to Czechoslovakia to play for Slova Bratislava. While there, he got his first cap, appearing for Czechoslovakia in a 3-4 win over Austria in October 1946. It was the first of six matches he played for them in 1946 and 1947.

But in 1948, he returned to Hungary to play for Vasas and made three appearances for the Hungarian international team that year.

He left Hungary in 1949 after it became a Communist state and eventually arrived in Spain, along with a number of other Eastern European refugees. He signed with Barcelona in 1951 and remained there for ten years. After obtaining Spanish citizenship, Kubala made his debut for Spain in a 1-0 loss to Argentina. He proceeded to earn a total of nineteen caps through 1961 and later managed the team from 1969 to 1980.